Why purple today?

As part of an initiative driven by our Adapt Employee Network,

Atos are taking part in #PurpleLightUp

Purple Light Up

For one day only the world will be lighting up purple as Networks, resource groups, allies, champions and supporters are coming together to celebrate the economic power of disabled people across the globe.

Atos is joining this event by turning the Atos website Purple for the day and hosting an event at Mid City Place our UK HQ. We are proud to welcome our keynote speaker Alastair Somerville and also to talk about what Atos does to support our disabled staff.

We are also live streaming the talks with captions.

Why 3rd December 2018

3rd December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

First launched by the United Nations in 1992, it’s now a globally recognized date that brings together a united voice to celebrate and empower disabled people.

Throughout the day we will have a number of sessions where we’ll be live streaming talks and panel sessions. You can watch the captioned live stream on the embedded player.

Why it matters

Over 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability, that’s 1 in 7. It can affect any of us at any time in our lives. In a growing global movement, over 160 countries have signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. But there’s still more to be done. True inclusion comes from a world that accepts all human difference, where people demand their voices to be heard.

#PurpleLightUp powered by PurpleSpace, will rally awareness in a global call to action.

Where it began

In July 2017 Kate Nash CEO of PurpleSpace sent out a personal tweet asking what people thought about using the colour purple as one way of symbolising the experience of disability – and to encourage organisations to create a #PurpleLightUp on or around the 3rd December each year.

Kate says “We could never have anticipated such a positive response and in 2017 many employers and thousands of individuals took part across the globe. Just as the rainbow flag has created real change as it rallies an increasingly vibrant LGBT movement – just as it symbolically unites people from every sector of society – just as it shows that prejudice can be positively challenged by building communities from a banner of colours that inspire hope – so too is purple inspiring a new grass-roots movement into the reality of what it means to be human. “

Related blog

#PurpleLightUp

The 3rd of December is the International Day for Persons with Disabilities. To mark this occasion, I’d like to invite everyone to join us for #PurpleLightUp as we aim to support the UN’s initiative to promote the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development. As Global head of Accessibility and one of the sponsors of Atos Adapt, our employee disability network, I want the day to be a celebration. Today is a day where we can celebrate our identity. All too often having a disability is viewed in a negative light…

Our website uses Cookies. By continuing to surf this website, you consent that we will continue using cookies to measure and understand how our web pages are viewed and to improve the way our website works. If you do not agree, you can decide to disable cookies in your web browser as explained in our Privacy Policy